OMER — “We went right on to the cemetery. We were all sitting on a log,” said Eerie Temperance Entertainment (ETE) member and Sterling native Jon McConnell, adding that he and others involved in the paranormal investigation of the Omer plains during the late moments of March 21 and early hours of March 22, were in the midst of what is believed to be an old, disturbed Native American burial ground when they heard somebody, or something walking.

“All of a sudden you could hear a pulse,” McConnell added. “It was crazy. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

The additional members of ETE and the paranormal team, Michigan Paranormal Encounters (MPE), which accompanied ETE last weekend, witnessed similar moments like this during the group’s mission to discover the truth about paranormal rumors regarding the Omer plains and the legend of the Witchy Wolf.

“We definitely picked something up,” said ETE Director of Promotions and Creative Consultant Joe Victor. He added that the next step for the group looking to publicize the facts about paranormal activity in the Omer plains via a television program is for MPE to analyze the results to decipher exactly what was paranormal activity witnessed in the dark woods, for ETE to edit and produce the collected footage and pitch the production to investors who are willing to back the show. If the funds are provided, Victor says the investigation will be re-shot with higher quality equipment and pitched to media outlets.

Part of the collected footage includes testimonials by area residents who met with Victor, McConnell and ETE member Adam McNinch on March 22 at the Country Diner in Sterling.

“I remember a lot of stuff going on there. … I could talk to you for about three weeks if you wanted me to,” Clayton Township resident Tony Zygiel, who says he was born in raised in the plains, told ETE. “Everything was creepy.”

Tony, 86, added that the howling sound of a Witchy Wolf often reported as being heard in the plains was actually the wind blowing through the thick, dense pine trees in the area, and that stories began to formulate regarding the eerie noise.

“In my opinion, I would say it’s all a hearsay story,” he said.

His wife, Virginia Zygiel, however, says that she and Tony’s daughter, who Virginia says grew up hearing tales of the Witchy Wolf, was cruising the plains when she was younger and told her mother she turned a corner and saw an old man sitting in a rocking chair in the middle of the plains.

Unlike Tony, Virginia said she wasn’t sure about whether or not she believed there was a presence in the woods of the Omer plains.

“I would say there could be,” Virginia said.

Don Kroczaleski, of Deep River Township, however, didn’t doubt that something strange could be happening in the dense forest.

“I believe there is. … There’s got to be something to it,” he said. “I don’t know if people could just pull these stories off the top of their heads.”

“If there was nothing there the legend would not have lasted so long,” Victor added.

According to Kroczaleski, his father also told him stories about seeing a team of white horses running through the Omer plains at night, amongst other reported sightings.

In an e-mail to the Independent regarding the matter, Norman Daniels, of Caro, formerly of Arenac County, says he doesn’t know if only a few days in the plains could truly confirm or dispel the rumors of the Witchy Wolf and paranormal activity, but he says one can’t just say nothing peculiar ever happened or nothing strange exists in the Omer plains.

“One thing we can be sure of is that far too many people have had encounters with these strange beings to simply write them off as someone’s overactive imagination,” his e-mail said. “You may not actually see ‘it,’ but I am sure you will return convinced that there is ‘something’ there.”

Also in Daniels’ e-mail was an eyewitness account of balls of light seen floating through the woods of the Omer plains. He says these balls of light were always suspected to be phosphorous reactions, but he also said that strangely enough, when people would try to walk away from the lights, the lights would follow them, but when people would walk towards the lights, the lights would retreat.

Apparently these mysterious lights haven’t gone away.

According to McConnell, members of ETE also reported seeing balls of light in the plains during the investigation.

The complete findings of the investigation are expected to be official and available in about a week, Victor said.

Check arenacindependent.com for updates on the paranormal investigation.